Thursday, February 8, 2018

February 8 On This Day in Australian History

1792 - James Collington was Hanged at Sydney for breaking into the hut of the baker John Campbell and stealing bread, flour and a check apron. At the hanging tree he addressed the assembled convicts before his execution, warning them to avoid the path he had pursued; but said that he was induced by hunger to commit the crime for which he suffered.

1797 - The ship Sydney Cove was sailing from Bengal to Sydney when it was beached after springing a leak off Preservation Island in the Furneaux Group, Bass Strait on this day. Two officers and fifteen of the crew, twelve of whom were Lascars, set out for Sydney in the ship’s launch, but were driven ashore to the south of Cape Howe on 2 March. The launch capsized in the surf and was badly damaged, but all hands reached the shore and after resting, commenced the trek overland to Sydney. Two white sailors and all the Lascars died during the two months' journey, but the survivors were picked up by a fishing party near Botany Bay and taken to Sydney. Of the remainder of the crew at the wreck, twenty five were rescued in July by the schooner Francis, and several others by the Eliza which foundered with the loss of all hands during the voyage back to Sydney.

1799 - James Reece was Hanged at Sydney for bestiality with a sow. Reece tried to cut his own throat on the morning of his execution.

1799 - Samuel Wright was Hanged at Sydney for burglary from the house of Simeon Lord in High St (Lower George St). Wright had been reprieved at the gallows in 1793, when previously sentenced to hang for burglary.

1807 - The Clyde River, in Tassie, didn't have a formal name except for Long Wet Fish Highway until Thomas Laycock dipped a digit into the depths on this day.

1833 - Being the SNAG that he wasn't Lt-Gov Arthur sent an email off to the Colonial Office bragging about what a great fellow-me-lad he was for creating a separate Survivor camp at Port Arthur for boy convicts aged 9 -18 yrs named Port Puer.

1836 - Thomas Arundell was Hanged at Sydney for the murder of Margaret Fitzpatrick at Lewis Ponds, near Bathurst.

1836 - Edward Jones was Hanged at Sydney for the murder of Margaret Fitzpatrick at Lewis Ponds, near Bathurst.

1836 - William Doyle was Hanged at Sydney for the murder of John Molloy near Mount York.

1836 - William Baker was Hanged at Sydney for the murder of his wife Mary at Penrith.

1859 - For those old enough to remember Princes Bridge Station - it was officially opened on this day, as was the line from Princes Bridge to Richmond (Vic).

1864 - Nightingale, a schooner, was wrecked on Long Island, while sheltering from a gale off the Sir James Smith Islands. The crew landed at Cape Bowling Green where they were attacked by aborigines and taken as slaves. Some of the crew were later rescued by the schooner Three Friends but the master died from the beatings he had received.

1864 - QLD reported that ,
"“The weather has been very tempestuous and rainy during the early part of the week, and the Bremer
and Brisbane Rivers rose above their usual flood tide levels.”

1879 - Ned Kelly and his gang converged upon the small town of Jerilderie prior to robbing the bank.

1879 The Infamous Sydney Riot of 1879 took place.
The place = Moore Park, Sydney.
The time = late arvo, 8th Feb.
The reason =......*ahem* ....a cricket umpiring decision that the crowd disagreed with....

1887 - SE to ESE gale with shipping halted and a 17 ton ketch lost on Wide Bay Bar.

1900 - Governments, money and war haven't changed much...Playing eeny-meeny-miny-mo in choosing the Bushman's Corps to fight at the Boer War, those with their own horses were given preference.

1902 - Langston was a three masted barque which struck a reef in heavy seas 25 nautical miles south west of Cape Naturaliste, WA, and sank in deep water on this day. The crew of thirteen reached the boats and landed at Lake Preston the following afternoon completely exhausted; one crew member died from shock and exposure shortly after landing.

1907 - Adelaide trams were run independently since 1880 and This Could Not Continue. They were given over to the Municipal Tramways Trust on this day which promptly stopped running them in November of the same year. If it aint broke, don't fix it.

1921 - The Alberton to Yarram railway line (Vic) was opened.

1931 - A tropical cyclone entered Coral Sea near Cooktown and moved down to Hervey Bay. Initially there was serious flooding in
Northern QLD chiefly between Cairns and Ingham and a man drowned in the Russell River. Then major
floods were experienced in SE Qld with 1300 homes inundated in Brisbane with two drownings. Storm
surge of 0.76m on Moreton Bay tide gauge. Most of the flooding was in Breakfast Creek where
1056 houses were flooded (396 above floor level). Around noon 5 Feb before the heavy rain in the
creek catchment, high tide at the mouth of Breakfast Creek tide level was 1.1 m above ordinary
high water spring. The subsequent flood levels above Bowen Bridge exceeded the 1893 flood
levels. Severe beach erosion, Currumbin Creek mouth breached.

1932 - The mother of rock and roll journalism, Lillian Roxon, was found in the daisy bush.

1942 - A tropical cyclone crossed the coast north of Rockhampton resulting in trees being uprooted, fences blown down and iron ripped off roofs. The main grandstand at the Show-grounds was unroofed. The city was blacked out from downed power lines.

1943 - Iron Knight, a BHP-owned steamship ore carrier was torpedoed and sank within two minutes north of Twofold Bay, 30 km from Montague Island, NSW. She was was the leading ship in a convoy of ten ships escorted by HMAS Mildura and HMAS Townsville. Thirty-six lost their life; fourteen rescued.

1946 - What with the distractions of war and Churchill's blatherings speeches on the radio the British people suddenly noticed they were a tad short of edible goods so the Aussies sent them a picnic parcel lunch of meat, cheeses, wheat/flour and butter.

1946 - A tropical cyclone crossed the coast near Cardwell around noon.
The winds at Babinda unroofed 12 houses and flattened telegraph poles. At Tully the wind smashed
plate glass windows, tore down awnings in Main Street and unroofed the Grandstand at Show-grounds.
Flood rains North Coast.

1946 - The destruction and disposal of 2,000 tons of gas bombs (mustard and phosgene) was completed at Fenton Airfield.

1947 - Six Australian BPW clubs met and passed a resolution that an Australian Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs be formed.

1952 - The Northern Territory News was first flung onto the streets, making this its 66th birthday.
Yippie.

1967 - Gough Whitlam replaced Arthur Calwell as leader of the ALP.

1967 - Go-Set's Feb. 8 edition carried a front-page story about The Beatles new single Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields.
Other stories included news of a split in Melbourne group The Strangers, and a story on teen violence in Sydney discos. The 'Watch This Space' column profiled a new Brisbane band Chelsea Set, touting them as a possible successor to the recently defunct Purple Hearts. The group included future Spectrum drummer Ray Arnott.

1970 Johnny O'Keefe, uncle of TV host Andrew O'Keefe, came in from his 5 year recording wilderness and released "Confessions of a Lonely Man".

1983 - The hot northerly wind that blew everybody inside out collected 50,000 tonnes of rich top soil from the Mallee and Wimmera districts and dumped 11,000 tonnes of it on Melbourne.

2001 - South Australia adopted the Leafy Seadragon as its marine emblem.

2003 - In Australia 750 nude women formed a heart around the words 'No War' near the town of Byron Bay to protest possible war with Iraq.

2003 - Due to Cyclone Beni the towns of 1770 and Agnes Waters were still isolated by floodwaters. Many Peaks was also isolated.

2006 - Australia and New Zealand vowed to work to build a single economic market on the back of strengthening trade ties, but stopped short of endorsing a single currency.

2008 - Australia's widely criticized "Pacific Solution" policy of holding asylum seekers on remote islands ended when the last detainees flew out of Nauru to live in Australia.

2008 - The dredging of Port Phillip Bay began deepening the channel for larger ships to dock.

2009 - Rainfall was starting to ease in flooded north Queensland and emergency crews were focused on resupplying isolated communities.

2009 - Fire authorities in NSW said a cool, windy change had not caused problems for firefighters on the state's central coast.

2009 - A team of Northern Territory-based forensic experts was preparing to fly to Victoria to assist in recovery efforts after the weekend's fires.

2010 - Australia tightened its migration rules in favor of English speakers and professionals, saying the country has been attracting too many hairdressers and cooks and too few doctors and engineers.

2010 - In Australia ITV Studios, producer of "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here," was fined 3,000 Australian dollars ($2,615) after pleading guilty of animal cruelty after two reality show contestants skinned, cooked and ate a rat during filming in Australia.

2011 - Australian firefighters brought a raging wildfire that destroyed 68 houses and damaged 32 others near the city of Perth under control.

2012 - Queensland authorities believed flood waters had finally peaked in St George, where the levee had held but 50 homes were flooded.

2012 - Western Australia's Premier Colin Barnett had been confronted by about 50 protesters who described a billion-dollar native title deal as a sham.

2013 - Tasmania's Tarkine region would be given heritage protection but vast forest areas would not be included as they were deemed to have been downgraded by mining.

2014 - Fire crews spent the day battling fires in South Australia and Victoria as the southern states endured a weekend of extreme weather conditions.

2015 - The South West Rail Link (NSW) was opened from Glenfield - Leppington.

2016 - Chief Minister Adam Giles launched the CLP's Aboriginal Affairs Strategy which would track 34 specific areas where the Government would measure its performance.

2017 - A suite of measures including boot camps and victim conferencing will be introduced or expanded in the Northern Territory, as the Government responds to growing outrage over a perceived spike in youth crime.

2017 - The Federal Court ruled that Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUA) can only be registered if they are signed by all registered Native Title Claimants who are “named applicants”, replacing a previous court decision that allowed registration without all named applicants having signed the ILUA (called the McGlade decision).